Awam Encyclopedia

Sir Lepel Henry Griffin states:

“All branches of the tribe are unanimous in stating that they originally came from the neighbourhood of Ghazni to India, and all trace their genealogy to Hasrat Ali the son-in-law of the Prophet. Kutab Shah, who came from Ghazni with Sultan Mahmud, was the common ancestor of the Awans”

—From ‘The Panjab Chiefs: Historical and Biographical Notices of the Principal Families in the Territories Under the Panjab Government.

H. A. Rose was more cautious in assigning an Arab origin to the Awans:

He was willing to concede that the tribe may well be Alvi Sayyids, who having sought refuge in Sindh from the Abbasids, allied themselves to Sabuktagin and assisted him in his Indian adventure, for which he bestowed the title of Awan on them (Rose considering it plausible that the name of the Awan tribe was derived from the word ‘Ahwan’, meaning “helper”.

Making reference to W.S. Talbot’s assessment of the Awans, Rose also commented:

“But in the best available account of the tribe, the Awans are indeed said to be of Arabian origin and descendants of Qutb Shah”

—From A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province

According to Denzil Ibbetson, the Awans may well have accompanied the forces of Babur, and the Awans of Jalandhar, who claimed to have shifted from the Salt Range at the behest of one of the early Emperors of Delhi, were particularly notable for being in the imperial service at Delhi.

Professor Tan Tai Yong, have authored works that cite the Awans (amongst other tribes) as being looked upon as a martial race by not only the British, but neighbouring tribes as well.

With reference to the British Raj’s recruitment policies in the Punjab, vis-à-vis the British Indian Army, Tai Yong Tan remarks:

“The choice of Muslims was not merely one of physical suitability. As in the case of the Sikhs, recruiting authorities showed a clear bias in favour of the dominant landowning tribes of the region, and recruitment of Punjabi Muslims was limited to those who belonged to tribes of high social standing or reputation – the ‘blood proud’ and once politically dominant aristocracy of the tract. Consequentially, socially dominant Muslim tribes such as the Gakkhars, Janjuas and Awans, and a few Rajput tribes, concentrated in the Rawalpindi and Jhelum districts in the northern Salt Range tract in the Punjab, accounted for more than ninety per cent of Punjabi Muslim recruits”

—From ‘The Garrison State: The Military, Government and Society in Colonial Punjab, 1849-1947

According to Philip Edward Jones:

“The Awan Tribe is perhaps the most heavily recruited tribe for the Pakistan Army”

The Pakistani military has always heavily recruited Awans and as is consistent with the past, the tribe continues to produce a considerable number of recruits who occupy many of the senior-most ranks of the Pakistani Army.

—From ‘The Pakistan People’s Party: Rise To Power

According to Sir Malcolm Darling, the Awans are the:

“Bravest of soldiers, toughest of cultivators and matchless as tent peggers”

Awans in general enjoy a respected status in Pakistan. Many have played and continue to play, prominent roles in areas as varied as politics, the armed forces, academia, literature and sport.

On a rural level, Awans belong to the Zamindar or landowning class.

—From ‘Wisdom and Waste in the Punjab Village

Christophe Jaffrelot states:

“The Awan deserve close attention, because of their historical importance and, above all, because they settled in the west, right up to the edge of Baluchi and Pashtun territory. Legend has it that their origins go back to Imam Ali and his second wife, Hanafiya. Historians describe them as valiant warriors and farmers who imposed their supremacy on the Janjua in part of the Salt Range, and established large colonies all along the Indus to Sind, and a densely populated centre not far from Lahore”

—From ‘ A History of Pakistan and Its Origins

John Henry Hutton has said of the Awans:

“They are exclusively Muslim and probably the descendants of some of the earlier Muslim invaders of the tenth century or earlier”

—From ‘Caste in India: Its Nature, Function and Origin

H. A. Rose stated:

“The Awans are an important tribe, exclusively Muhammadan”

Many Awan families to this day live on and cultivate land, which their ancestors have held for centuries. They often carry titles typical to Punjabis who own tracts of ancestral land such as Malik, Chaudhry and Khan . The modern surname system often results in members of the same family with different surnames, some choosing their position as a surname i.e. Malik or Chaudhry, and some choosing their clan/tribe/family name of Awan.

—From ‘A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province

(From wikipedia with changes)